Thursday, December 27, 2012

INSECT-PHILOSOPHER"You
and I have drifted to the worlds that reel about the red Arcturus, and
dwelt in the bodies of the insect-philosophers that crawl proudly over
the fourth moon of Jupiter."H.P. Lovecraft, Beyond the Wall Of Sleep

"That's
as close as I can come. The mouths was like leaves and the whole thing
was like a tree in the wind, a black tree with lots of branches trailing
to the ground, and a whole lot of roots ending in hoofs. And that green
slime dribbling out of the mouths and down the legs was like sap!"

"It
came crawling up the hillside to the alter and the sacrefice, and it
was the black thing of my dreams-that black ropy, slimy, jelly
tree-thing out of the woods. It crawled up and it flowed up on its hoofs
and mouths and snaky arms. And the men bowed and stood back and then it
got to the alter where they was something squirmin on top,

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

"Here cosmic sin had entered, and festered by unhallowed
rites had commenced the grinning march of death that was to rot us all to fungous abnormalities
too hideous for the grave’s holding. Satan here held his Babylonish court, and in the
blood of stainless childhood the leprous limbs of phosphorescent Lilith were laved. Incubi and
succubae howled praise to Hecate, and headless moon-calves bleated to the Magna Mater."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror At Red Hook

"Christian art and literature, the devil is sometimes represented with
three faces or three heads in antithesis to the trinity, as in Dante's
description. It may also have a head on its stomach or rump or eyes for
kneecaps."

Marjorie O'Rourke Boyle, Loyola's Acts: The Rhetoric Of Self

"Two mighty wings, enormous as became A bird so vast.
Sails never such I saw Outstretch'd on the wide sea. No
plumes had they, But were in texture like a bat, and these He
flapp'd i' th' air, that from him issued still Three winds, wherewith
Cocytus to its depth Was frozen."

Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy; The Vision Of Hell, Canto XXXIV

"The Devil's penis was hard, made of bone or horn (or even iron) as well as flesh; his semen was ice-cold. His penis was bifurcate, able to penetrate two orifices at once."Erica Jong,Witches

"When these members
of the devil have met together, they generally light a foul and horrid
fire. The devil is president of the assembly and sits on a throne, in
some terrible shape, as of a goat or a dog; and they approach him to
adore him, but not always in the same manner. "Fracesco Maria Guazzo, Compendium Malificarum

"At the Sabbat the demon Leonard appeared as large goat with three horns instead of two. The Devil himself at a Sabbat was supposed to appear in the same shape.""He is not only depicted as having cloven hooves and a tail and horns, though this is usual." Leonard R. N. Ashley,The Complete Book Of Devils and Demons"To give Satan a visual representation, the early Christians borrowed heavily from earlier mythologies, and the generally accepted appearance of Satan is an amalgamation of such things as the horns and shaggy hindquarters of the Greek god Pan."Richard Craze,Hell "Often the Devil appears monstrous and deformed, his outward shape betraying his inner defect. He has an extra face on belly, knees, or buttocks.""Other characteristics are hooves or paws, claws, hairiness, and goat legs."Jeffrey Burton Russell, Lucifer: The Devil In the Middle Ages

Friday, December 21, 2012

MI-GO"They
were pinkish things about five feet long; with crustaceous
bodies bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membranous wings
and several sets of articulated limbs, and with a sort of
convoluted ellipsoid, covered with multitudes of very short
antennae, where a head would ordinarily be."H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer In Darkness

Thursday, December 20, 2012

"There
was an almost globular torso, with six long, sinuous limbs terminating
in crab-like claws. From the upper end a subsidiary globe bulged forward
bubble-like; its triangle of three staring, fishy eyes, its foot-long
and evidently flexible proboscis, and a distended lateral system
analogous to gills, suggesting that it was a head. Most of the body was
covered with what at first appeared to be fur, but which on closer
examination proved to be a dense growth of dark, slender tentacles or
sucking filaments, each tipped with a mouth suggesting the head of an
asp. On the head and below the proboscis the tentacles tended to be
longer and thicker, and marked with spiral stripes—suggesting the
traditional serpent-locks of Medusa. To say that such a thing could have
an expression seems paradoxical; yet Jones felt that that
triangle of bulging fish-eyes and that obliquely poised proboscis all
bespoke a blend of hate, greed, and sheer cruelty incomprehensible to
mankind because mixed with other emotions not of the world or this solar
system.""'Rhan-Tegoth,
infinite and invincible, I am your slave and high-priest. You are
hungry, and I provide. I read the sign and have led you forth. I shall
feed you with blood, and you shall feed me with power. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Goat with a Thousand Young!”'H.P. Lovecraft & Hazel Heald, The Horror In the Museum

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

MOLOCH"Moloch
and Ashtaroth were not absent; for in this quintessence of all
damnation the bounds of consciousness were let down, and man’s fancy lay
open to vistas of every realm of horror and every forbidden dimension
that evil had power to mould."H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror At Red Hook"Moloch
was the god of the Ammonites, portrayed as a bronze statue with a
calf’s head adorned with a royal crown and seated on a throne."

"Rabbis
claim that in the famous statue of Moloch, there were seven kinds of
cabinets. The first was for flour, the second for turtle doves, the
third for an ewe, the fourth for a ram, the fifth for a calf, the sixth
for a beef, and the seventh for a child. It is because of this, Moloch
is associated with Mithras and his seven mysterious gates with seven
chambers. When a child was sacrificed to Moloch, a fire was lit inside
the statue. The priests would then beat loudly on drums and other
objects so that the cries would not be heard."Colin de Plancy, Dictionnaire Infernal

"First MOLOCH, horrid King besmear'd with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents tears,"John Milton, Paradise Lost

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

"For the cat is
cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus,
and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroë and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle’s
lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he
speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath
forgotten."

"What was the land of these wanderers none could tell; but it was
seen that they were given to strange prayers, and that they had painted on the sides of their
wagons strange figures with human bodies and the heads of cats, hawks, rams, and lions. And
the leader of the caravan wore a head-dress with two horns and a curious disc betwixt the horns."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Cats Of Ulthar

"Khnum, one of the oldest gods of Egypt, came from the area of the First Cataract, to the far south. He became associated with the annual Nile flood, which seemed to originate from his domain. As a symbol of fertility which the flood brought, he was depicted with the head of a ram and given the role of a creator-god. A temple of the Roman period portrayed him as creator of all, even the other gods."

"Khnum created the human race from clay, which he made by mixing earth andwater with air."Charles Freeman, The Legacy Of Ancient Egypt

"Khnum was self-created and the maker of heaven, raising it on its four pillars. He was also the maker of the underworld and of water, of things which are and of thing which shall be."

"Khunum was represented as a man wearing the head of a ram with horizontal wavy horns, or as a ram standing on its hind legs, which was called the 'living soul of Ra'."Veronica Ions, Egyptian Mythology

Monday, December 17, 2012

"Then we knew that we were done with
Saracen Cairo, and that we must taste the deeper mysteries of primal Egypt—the black Khem
of Re and Amen, Isis and Osiris."

H.P. Lovecraft & Harry Houdini, Under the Pyramids

"At other times he was seen protecting the deceased (Osiris or others identified with him)with long feathery wings. Most often Isis was represented as a woman with a throne on her head. At other times her headdress was a disk flanked by feathers and cow's horns. "

"Accompanied by seven protective serpents, she took refuge in the swamps of Buto and there gave birth to Horus."Veronica Ions, Egyptian Mythology

"Snakes of all types are sacred to Isis and were used in Her rites, often being carried processions."DeTracy Regula, The Mysteries Of Isis

Friday, December 14, 2012

Hey dude! So while you're waiting for next week's monsters to post you can check out my 2012 best of mix to get an idea of the crud that I listen to while I'm drawing these hideous blasphemies. My friend Justin started the blog as a place to share our favorite new (to us at least) music of the year and this is the third year I've done it.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Hey folks! So, Illustro Obscurum sold out really, really fast despite paypal problems. Because of that, everyone that stuck with it and purchased a copy during that annoying period got a special original drawing with their copy!

If you follow this blog, you know I like to redraw stuff. Mostly because of the fast pace I set for myself, as time passes I realize there are things I could do better with a certain drawing or I have a better understanding of the creature based on other information. The drawings everyone got are the first time passes at monsters that have been redrawn. Some of them are from when I first started this project (as a one time show not a continuous blog) four years ago, so they may not be too good, hahah. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, thanks!

Everyone's zines (preorders and stand alone, domestic and international) went out yesterday December 11th, much to the chagrin of the 8 people behind me at the post office (37 packages, ugh!). It was late in the day so they probably won't start their journey to you until today.

Also, since it's been a while, here are two sketch/completion comparisons...

This first one changed a little bit but mostly just in posture. The general idea is still the same.

This guy is almost exactly the same as his sketch....adorable!

In other news, I'll be back on schedule and posting a full week's worth of new guys next week (two new and 1 redraw that was done to fix line work/color and 2 awesome redraws that are just cooler than the old versions). Jeanne and I are going to the Czech Republic and Slovakia for Christmas and New Years so, I'll be absent for a bit, however, I will have a special holiday post on Christmas day...it will NOT be safe for the dinner table.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

All the zines (including combo pack orders) are printed, put together, and ready to be signed and numbered. I'll get them out early next week which should be in time for the holidays (SOME international destinations have taken an extended period of time to arrive but it should still be good).

If you couldn't get Volume III because of the button issue write to me in the comments and I'll do a short run repress. Thanks everyone!!